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9 | W aterloo C hronicle | T hursday,D ecem ber 19,2019 w aterloochronicle.ca For Gimder Roberlo, it might be the last time he's with his mom and siblings on Christmas. At a meeting with the Canada Border Services Agency on Nov. 18, they all received a deportation date of Feb. 6, 2020. His parents, who hail from Gautemala, had been residing illegally in the U.S. since the 1990s and gave birth to six children there before fleeing to Canada in 2017, following President Donald Trump's election. While Gimder, 18, is eli- gible to return to the U.S. as an adult citizen, his youn- ger brothers and sisters, al- so U.S. citizens currently residing in Waterloo, must remain with a parent as mi- nors, according to the CBSA ruling. Their father, Daniel, was deported back to his native Guatamala in No- vember. "I'm not going," said Gimder, who acted as a translator for his mother during an interview with the Chronicle on Monday at a relative's residence in Wa- terloo. "But they're going to take my mom and the rest of them," he said. "While the CBSA had told the family that they could choose whether the kids under 18 would go to the U.S. (with their broth- er), they reneged on this commitment and will be de- porting them to Guatemala with their mother, Sandra Morales," said Stacey Go- mez, who's working on be- half of the family with an organization based in Hali- fax, N.S., called No One Is Illegal. According to a press re- lease, migrant justice activ- ists staged a protest Mon- day in Halifax, dropping a banner and handing out pamphlets to shoppers, de- manding that new federal Minister of Immigration Marco E.L. Mendicino im- mediately stop the deporta- tion of the Roblero-Morales family. "For many people, the holidays are a time to cele- brate together with fami- ly," Gomez stated. "The Ro- blero-Morales family will spend this holiday season separated and in fear. We are demanding that the Trudeau government end its horrific policy of sepa- rating and deporting fami- lies ... " "My mom is scared to go back to Guatemala because it's dangerous, it's scary," Gimder said, alluding to poverty and lack of health care. Three of his siblings have serious health issues. One suffers from a rare congenital condition called galactosemia, which puts FAMILY FACING DEPORTATION DATE HOLDING OUT HOPE Sandra Morales and five of her children: Daniela, 16, Kaitlyn 14, Job 11, Breizhlander, 8 and Aaron, 5. Torstar file photo BILL JACKSON bjackson@kitchenerpost.ca NEWS COUPLE HAS RESIDED UNDOCUMENTED IN NORTH AMERICA FOR THE BETTER PART OF TWO DECADES See 'IN GUATEMALA, page 10